Thursday if the
Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Philippians 3:3-8A; Luke 15:1-10)
Last week in a perceptive column author David Brooks analyzed
the social ecology of American society.
He said that Americans are becoming increasingly lonely. We spend way too much time by ourselves often
in front of a computer. We do not join
organizations as our parents and grandparents did. The resultant isolation triggers bizarre
fantasies of power, suicide, or the yearning for drugs. Brooks calls for a war on “division, discord,
and isolation.” But, he writes, the war is
to take place not among different kinds of people but inside every human heart. Today’s gospel indicates both the ongoing war
of the heart and the spiritual weapon necessary to win it.
Jesus tells the Pharisees and scribes of the need for
repentance. He points to the tax collectors
who are giving up their propensity to extort money from the people. He says that their moral turnarounds cause
rejoicing in heaven. But it is not that
the Pharisees and scribes are so righteous that they cannot precipitate a party
among the saints. Rather, they and the
rest of humanity have dark sides that need illumination. All people have hearts divided between loving
and loathing, between serving and being served.
As wealthy, our society affords many people opportunities
to live distant from others. Not only do
many have their own households, they can also can work, shop, and recreate
without leaving home. As luxurious as
this may seem, we must resist at least some of it. If we are going to live in harmony with
ourselves, we must interact with others.
Jesus has already shown us how to do it.
We should follow his example of civility, service, and friendship.
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